By Coria Bowen

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While there are many ways to honor deceased victims of disease, UK is presenting a unique way to memorialize AIDS victims.

The Student Activities Board is presenting an AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibit in the Rasdall Gallery that opens Monday.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt was established in 1987 in San Francisco as a type of monument to remember lost AIDS victims.

Leslie Foster, SAB’s committee chair for cultural arts, is excited to see the impact the quilt will have.

“I think it is a pretty eye-opening experience to something that people may not be aware of,” Foster said. “It will help students identify with the problem and see how people are experienceing their loss.”

The quilt is made up of 12-by-12-foot blocks — each section of the block created and designed by families, friends and partners of AIDS victims. The blocks are sown together and continue to grow larger through the years.

Shannon Ruhl, SAB’s director of cultural arts, said the quilt is meant to memorialize and bring awareness to HIV and AIDS prevention.

Ruhl said the exhibit coincides with World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. University Health Service and other campus organizations will also hold events to honor World AIDS Day.

“The idea is that the individual sections … come together to make a universal quilt; a universal memorial,” Ruhl said.

The exhibit showcases eight blocks of the quilt, and Ruhl said each section is different in its design.

“Most have names or say ‘World AIDs Day 1996,’” Ruhl said. “Each one is different and unique in what it tries to portray or represent the memory of each victim.”

Foster was moved by the design. “I had mixed feelings because some of it was really cool to see,” she said, “and some of it was sad to see because of what people wrote.”

UK has shown the quilt in the past and Ruhl said it is important for the quilt to be shown again because the issue of AIDS is still prevalent.

“I know that there are students who are affected by this, even if not personally, through their friends, family,” Ruhl said. “We are bringing awareness to it in a beautiful and constructive way.”

Ruhl said it was a special experience to be a part of putting the exhibit together and believes other students will have a similar experience by visiting it.

“To summarize this semester, we are trying to bring new experiences to the student body,” Ruhl said. “Something they haven’t seen before or a sense of exposure and a sense beyond their understanding of what might be in a gallery.”

The pieces of the quilt chosen for this exhibit honors victims from this region, which illustrates how close to home the issue of AIDS is for many.

Foster said there are a couple of pieces with Lexington and UK on them.

“You will see sections that have objects and mementos that have been sewed on or attached to the quilt,” Ruhl said. “Some of these are not your typical patchwork.”

Ruhl wants students to be aware of the issue of AIDS and also to be reminded that quilting has a longstanding tradition in Kentucky.

“It’s important for students to see the quilt not only to honor victims of HIV and AIDS but also to see a form of art that is very much important to Kentucky heritage and culture,” Ruhl said.

­­­“Students sometimes forget this part and they should see it as more than just a craft, but an art.”

During World AIDS Day, there will be various programs on campus for students, including HIV screenings. The day’s events will end with a reception.

Ruhl encourages students to visit the exhibit.

“What makes it so special is that each one is so different, yet they are conveying a powerful message,” Ruhl said. “One piece of work, one piece of art.”